


Reading For A Laugh

by theianitor



Series: Reading About Yourself [3]
Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: Characters Reading Fanfiction, Fluff, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-09
Updated: 2016-06-09
Packaged: 2018-07-14 02:44:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7149476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theianitor/pseuds/theianitor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kevin introduces some of the others to fan fiction. Jolyon is not amused.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Reading For A Laugh

**Author's Note:**

> Slight warning for language, but I still think it's T. My travels within the "characters reading fan fiction"-tag continue!

“... and there’s some where it’s just one person, but with the _entire_ grid! _Everyone_!” Kevin was excitedly speaking just loud enough to be turning heads. Marcus was laughing, seemingly unfazed by Kevin’s retelling of what he’d found on the internet. Jolyon, however, was fazed. He awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck, looking around to see how many people were now giving them funny looks. A fair few, as far as he could tell.

“Kevin, maybe...” he started in an attempt to get his teammate to change the subject, or at least use his indoor voice when discussing this particular subject in public. Kevin didn’t hear him and kept talking just as loud as before.

“... and I read one where the rookies had to do this initiation, and _I_ ended up with...” he lowered his voice so Jolyon couldn’t hear, but hissed something out in a whisper to Marcus, who laughed even harder.

“Guys?” Jolyon tried again.

“Don’t be embarrassed!” Kevin said, still with that excited grin on his face. “It’s just made up.”

“Yeah it’s just... people are looking.” That seemed to at least get Marcus’s attention, even if Kevin didn’t care. The Swede straightened up and looked around quickly. It was true, there were a couple of people still giving them sideways glances. Jolyon was relieved; if there was one thing Marcus didn’t like, it was people noticing him for things that might be embarrassing. He started talking about the track, a conversation Jolyon was only too happy to take part in. Kevin eyed them both, not done with his desired topic, but soon joined their conversation.

 

The topic was successfully avoided until later that evening. They had decided to go to dinner together and Jolyon didn’t think twice about it when Kevin said they should meet up in his room. When he got there however, Marcus was already there, laughing as he let Jolyon in.

“Alright guys?”

“Jo, just in time! We were just about to go on a double date at the drive-in.” Kevin called out happily. Jolyon got the feeling he was missing something. Marcus started laughing out loud again.

“He’s so in to it, it’s so funny!” he gasped.

“Eh... okay?”

“Yeah. We’re in high school, in America... I think, it wasn’t very clear.” Kevin said dismissively, turning back to the laptop. Jolyon realized what was going on.

“I’m not sure I...”

_“They all got in the car.”_ Kevin read out loud. _“Since Nico was driving, Kevin sat in the front.”_ He turned back to Jolyon. “I’m dating Nico Hulkenberg in this; he’s the captain of the football team. I’m so lucky!” Marcus’s face was turning red because he was laughing so hard.

_“... and Marcus and Jo got in the back seat. Nico and Kevin kept talking, and Marcus bravely let his hand find Jo’s and gently squeezed it.”_ Kevin kept reading and Jo felt his face heating up.

“Really guys, this is...”

“It’s cute!” Kevin said, still grinning broadly and reading ahead a bit. “It’s like being a moviestar.”

Jo was about to say something more when there was a knock on the door. With a sigh of relief he went to open it, and behind him he heard Marcus trying to calm himself down, Kevin not helping at all by reading the next lines in a horrible German accent. Appropriately, outside the door Jo found Nico Hulkenberg, Esteban, and Sergio.

“Come on in.” Kevin _had_ to stop reading now that there were others present.

“Are we going?” Nico said as he stepped into the room. Kevin looked up from the laptop and grinned broadly at him, Marcus was righting himself on the couch, still chuckling and a little out of breath, like he’d only just stopped laughing.

“What are you doing?” Nico asked, snickering at Marcus who was wiping his eyes. Jolyon sighed.

“Nothing, let’s go.”

“We’re reading porn.” Kevin said, causing Marcus to burst out laughing again. Nico seemed a little taken aback. Behind him, Sergio and Esteban looked at each other before looking back at Kevin.

“Did you say you are reading porn?”

“Guys, I’m just going to go, okay?” Jolyon said from the hall.

“Come on Jo, it’s just for fun!” Marcus called after him, but all he got in response was the sound of the door shutting behind the Brit as he left.

“Well it’s not porn, not this one. We’re dating,” Kevin explained, pointing at Nico to general snickering, “and Marcus and Jo are on their first date. Just let me finish this chapter and we can go.”

He kept reading and before the chapter was finished, the others were in tears because they were laughing so hard. Kevin kept going, reading the next chapter too.

“What is that, did you write it?” Esteban asked when Kevin had finished. He was drying his eyes and slightly out of breath.

“No, the fans made it.” The Dane replied.

“It’s fan-fiction,” Marcus filled in, “lots of stories about us.”

“You said it was porn?” Hulk was having trouble keeping a straight face, the thought of himself in football gear and dating Kevin was just too much.

“Some of it is _really_ dirty.” There was an almost feral glow in Kevin’s eyes and he turned back to the computer.

“Not tonight, we don’t have time.” Marcus interrupted. “Some other time.”

Kevin gave him an exaggerated sigh.

“You’re as bad as Jo. Fine. I’ll show you the dirty ones some other time.” The others laughed again. “Actually, you had to take me to the movies to even get a kiss, so if you want stories, you have to at least pay for dinner!”

“Absolutely.” Nico agreed with a grin.

 

\--

 

Quite a few signals had gone through before he answered.

“Mhm?” As soon as he picked up Jolyon was kicking himself. He’d woken him up, and he should have known.

“It’s me.” Jo said, prepared to hang up with short notice.

“Jo, hey.” Silence fell. Just when Jolyon thought he had gone back to sleep, he spoke again. “What’s up?”

“I’m sorry it’s so late. I forgot you didn’t fly in today.”

“No problem. What’s going on?”

“It’s silly, really, but I just needed to hear your voice.” Through the rustling of sheets and covers, he heard him laughing softly.

“That’s sweet.”

Jolyon didn’t say anything right away. He felt better just hearing his voice, that was true, but he still had an inexplicable feeling of being annoyed with the fan fiction, with the casual way Kevin and the others just found it funny. The silence stretched on until Jo took a deep breath and then just rambled out what was bothering him.

“So... Kevin found some stories online that fans wrote and had a reading for some of the guys today. Marcus thought it was bloody hilarious.”

“You sound angry.”

“I’m not. I’m... it’s just... it’s not a joke, you know?” he sighed and sunk down on the couch. “It sounds all romantic when it’s like that, and it fucking isn’t. Why do we have to sneak around? I hate it. And they’re laughing at it like it’s...”

“Jo, they’re not laughing at _that._ They don’t know what it’s like. They don’t know about _us_. The fan-stuff is made up, nobody believes it. It’s just for fun.”

“Well I don’t think it’s funny.”

“You should.” He said, and Jo could hear him sit up. Closing his eyes he could see him sitting in bed and he suddenly hated that they were on the phone and not face to face.

“Oh yeah? Why?”

“To the fans it’s just fun, and the more they make up, the less chance that someone will figure out what really goes on.” There was a short pause, like he was giving Jo a second to process what he said. “You know some of the stories are...”

“Yeah Kevin threatened to read some.” Jo was still in something of a mood, but he felt better. The reassurance did him good. Maybe they had just been apart for too long; they’d been spoiled with how much time they had had together lately so being apart felt even worse.

“He would.” He chuckled.

“So you already knew about the stories?” The chuckle turned into laughter.

“The guys used to joke about it all the time! You know what they’re like, on instagram and stuff...” He kept laughing. “They acted some of it out one time and Alex and Mitch were fake-kissing...”

“And they didn’t care? That it’s... gay?”

“No, nobody does. It’s just fiction, Jo.”

“Marcus and I were dating. In the one Kevin read. He was laughing about it.”

“Of course he was. You two dating is really funny!”

They kept talking for a few minutes, until there were more yawns than words in the conversation.

“I get there tomorrow. Maybe we should look at some stories together?”

“Why?” Jo laughed in surprise.

“I don’t know, maybe to get inspired?”

“I’d rather have the real thing.” Jolyon said, but he was smiling.

“You’re right. Truth is better than fiction.” He yawned again. “Jo, if I don’t get to sleep, I’ll be dead tomorrow.”

“Yeah I know. I’ll see you tomorrow night?”

“Yeah. I love you, Jo.”

“I love you too Stoff. Good night.”

 

They hung up and Jolyon sat for a little while, just mulling the conversation over. He realized it wasn’t the fiction as such, but rather that it reminded him about the lying, the sneaking around and constantly keeping everything secret that he and Stoffel had been doing for the better part of two years now. He’d have to apologize to the guys in the morning, he knew that. His walking out, in retrospect, felt a little childish. Kevin and Marcus would probably be fine though. They might tease him about being a prude or something for a few days, and he would be fine with that, he honestly expected nothing less. It wasn’t mean-spirited; it was just how they all were.

He could see, in a way, what was funny about the stories though. Especially in the eyes of the other guys, who weren’t involved with anyone – least of all another man in the same sport! That was, in itself, a little funny actually. He snickered to himself, thinking about the other drivers. There were probably stories about all of them.

While getting ready for bed, he couldn’t help but think about what people might write. Did they make up whole relationships, or just sex? From what Kevin had read, it sounded like the former. Someone had gone through the trouble of describing Kevin, he, Marcus and Nico and a whole made-up world, where Nico captained a football-team, drove an American muscle-car, and dated Kevin. Were all the stories like that? Lying in bed, he reached for his phone and brought up a search engine. It couldn’t hurt to check.

**Author's Note:**

> This was all in good fun, as usual.  
> Thanks for the read! :)


End file.
